Here are the original statements provided by five of the participants on the
first night of the Rendlesham Forest UFO sighting (1980 December 26). The
statements are presented in alphabetical order of the witness’s name. Click on an illustration for a larger version.

Note: Lt Buran was the most senior officer involved on the night in question. He was
the shift commander in Central Security Control (CSC) at Bentwaters. Thinking
there had been an aircraft crash, he allowed members of the security police to
investigate, and ordered them back when nothing was found. Buran went on leave
after the event until the New Year, but on his return he wrote out the
statement above. Buran elaborated on his role and knowledge of the incident in a series of public postings in 2010 November on the Justice for the Bentwaters 81st Facebook page run by Jim
Penniston and John Burroughs. He concluded: “I think Cabansag's statement gives the best explanation of the lights” [i.e. it was the lighthouse].

Note: The “strange noises, like a woman screaming” reported on page 2 of the above deposition were most likely caused by muntjac deer, which scream in this way when alarmed. The other noises and movement in the
woods were probably also caused by these same deer. Col Halt heard similar
noises during his own investigation two nights later. It’s worth noting that in an interview on The Paracast in 2009 Burroughs stated he had never been out in the woods before that night.
Penniston and Cabansag were newly arrived on base and were no more familiar
with the woods than he was (scroll to 08:40, 25:35 and 33:15 in the interview).
Burroughs added a diagram of the lights he saw, which bears no obvious
resemblance to the small, boxy object drawn by Penniston in his statement
(below).

Note: Cabansag agrees with Burroughs that they walked eastwards for two miles from
their vehicle towards a “beacon” light; however, this estimate may be an exaggeration, as the difficult terrain
would have made the distance feel greater than it was. Burroughs finally
identified the beacon as a lighthouse.

Note: Master Sergeant Chandler was the most senior officer in the forest on the first
night. He was in radio contact with Penniston throughout the incident, relaying
progress back to Sergeant Coffey at Central Security Control, Bentwaters.
Chandler reports no loss of communication or “missing time”, as some versions have subsequently suggested. However he does mention
Penniston’s identification of a “beacon light” (i.e. the lighthouse), a significant detail that is missing from Penniston’s own written statement.

Note: Unlike the statements by Burroughs and Cabansag above, Penniston’s statement did not mention the lighthouse and it was neither signed nor dated.
Had Penniston already realized their mistake and was he already working on
deniability?

Penniston’s route from East Gate to the point where he and Burroughs left their vehicle
and proceeded on foot is shown in his sketch above centre. I have plotted this route on an aerial photograph of the region, along with the position of the supposed landing site investigated by Col Halt
two nights later.

In the right-hand drawing, the boxy object on stilts between trees is quite
different from the larger, triangular craft Penniston showed on a separate drawing. (I have not been able to find out when this other drawing was made, but it
bears the same wrong date as Penniston’s notebook, i.e. December 27.) The inset detail at bottom left of the page above
is accompanied by a question mark, perhaps betraying some uncertainty.